Worth It
by giacinta
Summary: Dean returns to the bunker and gets an unpleasant surprise. One-shot. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed and favoured my past stories. :)


Worth It

XXXXXX

The black car pulled up in front of the isolated building standing out like a sore thumb in the centre of the stark landscape that surrounded it. It had been well-hidden by those who had designed and built it, incorporating into its red brick walls all the protective sigils, spells and wards known to the once flourishing secret society denominated "Men of Letters."

X

The young man in the driver's seat was one of two brothers who had been appointed sole heirs of the building and of all the secrets it contained, by their paternal grand-father Henry Winchester who had travelled through time to find his son John, only to be told that he was already dead.

Although Dean hadn't had time to form any kind of emotional attachment to the man, he had been sorry to see him die in the attempt to free Sammy from Abaddon's clutches although he was well aware that to save Sam he was willing to sacrifice anyone or anything; heck he had already sacrificed himself once before and would do so again if needs be, but he had been truly sorry for his grandfather's ill-fated death.

X

Dean gathered up the bags of groceries he had purchased on his way back from his quick visit to Kevin, the young prophet who was trying to decipher a fragment of an ancient tablet supposedly containing the "Word of God", giving instructions on how to close off the Gates of Hell.

Suffice to say that the teen hadn't been making much progress, which struck Dean as strange recalling how he had deciphered the Leviathan tablet in a few hours. Maybe reading the tablets was like a video-game it got more difficult as you upped the levels.

He shrugged.

He was in no great hurry to take on any new problems anyway; he had been anxious to get back home [ just when was it that he had begun to think of this remote hidden bunker as home! ] although he knew that it wasn't just the building that constituted home but the person it contained; Sam his brother, well technically anyway, but he no longer knew how to define their relationship.

Ash's words came rushing back to him. "Occasionally two people share the same heaven, Soul-mates!"

Dean shook his head. He wasn't ready to go there yet but somehow it gave him a warm feeling to believe that even after death his brother would always be at his side!

X

As he made his way down the steps to the door, he wondered just what Sam had been up to in his absence, probably still with his nose in a book!

To be honest, Sam had offered to come along with him but Dean had refused; he wasn't going on a hunt, just doing a little reconnaissance on Kevin, and Sam had been so happily engrossed in his voyage of geeky discovery, that he hadn't had the heart to drag him away.

X

They still only had the one key, which Dean had taken as Sam had assured him that he wasn't going to put a foot outside the door until Dean got back.

The key turned smoothly in the lock as if it had just been lovingly oiled and Dean stepped over the threshold, a sensation washing over him that somehow this time-capsule of a building was welcoming him home.

"Sammy?" he called enquiringly as he made his way down the staircase to the lower level, not having caught sight of his brother at the tables below.

The kid had probably been up all night mooning over the books and was sprawled out asleep in his room.

X

First things first though, he reflected as he made his way to the kitchen and stored the groceries in the antediluvian fridge. That done he passed by his own room to Sam's which was just next door.

It had felt odd not having his brother in the bed next to his own but Sam had given him the whole logic speech, complete with flailing arms and a convincing expression on his face.

"Dean, we're perfectly safe in this bunker and we don't have to sleep with one eye open all the time checking out that nothing's creeping up on us. Anyway there are plenty of bed-rooms so there's no need for us to bunk up together."

Dean had bowed down to Sam's suggestion, but with the understanding that he was going to knock a portion of the wall down between their rooms and install a sliding door. It was always prudent to have a secondary exit and he wasn't going to take no for an answer.

Sam had cocked his head to the side but hadn't objected further, and Dean had smiled to himself. For all his logic, Sam wasn't completely happy to be on his own either. Co-dependency did that to you, Dean admitted frankly to himself.

X

He paused for a moment outside Sam's door and then pushed it open.

Well if his brother was sleeping, it certainly wasn't here as his bed was untouched; he must have dozed off in some out of the way corner of the bunker, but even as his mind formed that thought, his heart began to panic.

He quickened his step and ran back to the main hall.

"Sam, Sammy! Come out, come out wherever you are!" he recited in a sing-song voice. "You're not trying to prank me are you, dude, because you know that pay-back is tough "

But the only reply was the faint echo of his own husky voice as it bounced off the walls.

X

It only took a frenzied minute to search the entire place but there was no sign of his brother.

"What the Hell, Sammy!" he shouted really scared now. "Good job this place was safe, yeah safe for everybody but a supernatural trouble-magnet that answers to the name of Sam Winchester."

The panic and anxiety he was feeling made him want to grab hold of every the damn book in his reach and throw them against the nearest wall, when he noticed a trickle of smoke rising from a side-table in a corner of the library.

In two strides he reached it. A book was lying open and there were ashes still smoldering in a metal bow at its side.

Dean quickly translated the Latin on the page and his face paled as the implications of what he was reading flashed through his mind.

It was a spell for time travel, the very one that Henry had used to come to the future probably.

"Sam, you idiot, what have you done now!" he whispered.

X

He carried the book over to the main table and studied it. For something as extraordinary as time travel, the spell was a pretty easy one with simple run-of-the-mill ingredients. Yeah, but that didn't help him.

Sam must have found the spell and used it. He could be anywhere in the past, or the future for that matter. Crap! Just what had gotten into his usually sensible brother that would make him do something as dangerous as this?

X

Dean got up and started to pace.

Waiting had never been his strong point but he didn't know what else to do. He'd just have to hang around for the little bitch to show up and when he did he would feel his big-brotherly rage!

He was blissfully conjuring up just what he would do to Sam as soon as he got his hands on him when the object of his dark thoughts appeared inside his personal space and Dean's hands fisted themselves automatically in his jacket as he pushed his brother to the nearest wall.

He didn't know whether to punch him to kingdom come or to hug him like a girl!

X

Sam was obviously surprised to see him, as his face paled to bone-white.

"Deean," he stuttered as he struggled in his brother's iron grip.

"I swear to God, Sam that anytime I have to leave you alone again, I'm gonna tie you down so that you can't do anything stupid. Time-travel! Seriously, man!" Dean yelled squinting up at Sam, his glare icy enough to kill. "You know how dangerous that is!"

"Dean…please!" Sam tried, boosting his eyes to helpless puppy mode but Dean was too furious to let himself be manipulated by his little brother. When it came to Sam's personal well-being, the eyes lost their power.

Now that he had Sam alive and well in his grasp however, his anger began to fade a little.

He couldn't see any wounds and Sam seemed to have a full supply of arms and legs.

X

"Dean, I can explain," Sam pleaded. "It's okay. Nothing happened. I'm fine….everything's fine..!" he added hurriedly.

"It had better be!" Dean threatened as he gave one last tug to Sam's jacket before dropping his hands and taking a step back.

"Sam, why would you do such a thing?" Dean askedconfused. "If it was only curiosity, well you know what they say about that and cats!"

"Just let me explain, Dean, " Sam repeated, holding out his arms in a soothing motion.

"I found the spell by accident as I was leafing through the books and….you're right….I ….shouldn't have let myself be tempted," he admitted sorrowfully.

Dean shook his head at Sam's foolishness but what was done, was done.

"Where did you go Sam?" he asked.

"Cold Oak," his brother answered, pulling himself up to full height as if to challenge Dean in some way.

X

Dean's memories went back to that terrible day, possibly the worst moment in his entire life and his heart softened towards his little brother.

He didn't say anything and Sam continued. "I wanted to go back and kill Jake, so that I wouldn't have died and you wouldn't have had to sell your soul and go to Hell for me." Sam declared earnestly. "But when I got there, I just couldn't do it!"

"Why not Sammy?" Dean asked quietly.

X

"I was afraid, Dean, so I just stood and watched as you came towards my younger self, and when Jake stabbed me in the back I saw myself fall into your arms and…..I saw the look on your face when you realized I had…died!"

"Sam…!" Dean said, his voice starting to break as he remembered.

"I'd never seen so much pain on anyone's face as I saw on yours, Dean. I…I wasn't … I'm not worth all that love, Dean. I'm just not worth it.!" Sam declared fervently.

"You still haven't told me why you held back from killing Jake," Dean said, ignoring Sam's words.

Sam took a deep breath, trying to control his emotions..

"I knew that if I killed him, I would change the future and there was no way of knowing what would happen and I thought of what we have now. We still have each other and we have a home too. I weighed up the pros and cons and I decided that maybe all the pain we had gone through was worth what we have now and if that was the price we had to pay, so be it."

X

Dean pulled his brother into his arms, this time not with anger but with love.

He so wished that Sam hadn't found that spell because even though he had torn his brother a new one about travelling through time, he wasn't so sure that he would have had the same self-restraint that Sam had shown in not changing history.

If he ever went back to Cold Oak, there was no doubt in his mind that Jake would be dead meat because he could never stand by and watch Sam dying like that again; the future be damned!

He released his little brother but kept his hands on his shoulders.

X

"You realise that book of spells has to be put away under lock and key, especially from me, Sammy!" Dean declared, and he held his brother's eyes until Sam nodded in complete understanding.

X

XXXX The endD XXXX


End file.
